Re: save-excursion again

[Stefan Monnier]

> I think the point is that save-excursion has been saving too much.  So, when
> we see a save-excursion in a piece of code, we are not sure whether it was
> meant to save the point and mark, or the current-buffer, or both.  It seems
> that the original developers were themselves unsure after a while.

Yes, it's part of the tension between "DWIMish user commands" and
"simple&predictable Lisp functions", where save-excursion has a kind of
"DWIMish user-command" feeling to it (it does various things and you can
keep using that single form for various purposes).

> I took Stephen's point as saying that, if we have separate
> save-current-buffer and save-region, with save-excursion strongly
> discouraged, we would promote a clearer programming style.

Probably.  But then, for the same reasons, you'd also want to have
save-point since save-region is so rarely needed.


        Stefan